That's What Living Is For

another year on the calendar has passed.  yet that doesn't seem as significant as it once did.  january 1 is just another day, a day to be lived as fully as possible, just as each day calls us to live more fully.  though it is a cliché, each day is a gift.  as i say at the beginning of each day, "today i am fortunate to have awakened, i have a precious human life, may i not waste it."  so, the question is: how do i avoid wasting this precious human life.  what are the things that i can do to make my life more productive, more mindful, more meaningful?

i have a wonderful partner who works hard to create a home that is pleasant and beautiful.  one of the things that i can do, and try to do, each day is be a help to her.  often i don't want to engage in one of her projects to keep our home running in an orderly, beneficial way, but i remind myself that being helpful is not always fun.  in the end helping her benefits me as well.  once i get going with my part of the project, i discover that it's more enjoyable than sitting in my easy chair surfing the web or watching tv.  the sense of accomplishment that we both feel in the evening as we look back on the day that has passed is worth the effort that we spent together.

the time i spend in meditation each morning sets me up for a day that is full of new insights and heightened awareness of what's going on around me.  it is gratifying to sense the happiness that being alive brings me, and i wish that i had begun my practice years ago.  my life would have been lived quite differently had this been the case.  i would have been a better husband, a better father, a better teacher, a better person, but i am thankful that a little book filled with insights from the dalai lama--the art of happiness by the dalai lama and howard cutler-- changed the way i think of life and how i live it.

the abandonment of religious superstition has helped me see the core values of the religion in which i was raised.  the conflation of the essential teachings of jesus with the folderol of fairy tales about him obscured what he was about for so long.  that realization has helped me to live more fully.  not worrying about heaven and hell or feeling compelled to take part in meaningless rituals lifted a great weight from my shoulders, freeing me to experience life without the encumbrances of a religion that is far from the truths that jesus taught.  reminding myself of what is important and what is not enables me to live in a new and more vibrant way.

may each of our lives be filled with joy.  may we remind ourselves that each new day is a gift to be experienced as fully as we can.  may we know that in serving others we benefit ourselves as much as we benefit those we serve.  may we accept nothing mindlessly.  may our happiness be deep and abiding, beyond the incidental trials that life brings.  shalom.